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Design for Social Impact Blog: CRI and Google Headquarters Visit

Google Arts and Culture
Zooming Van Gogh

The students from the Masters in Design for Social Impact (MDES) program got a chance to visit the Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaries (CRI) and the Google Headquarters!

 

It was Friday, September 27th, and we were supposed to meet outside the Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaries (CRI) at 9h20. It was so hard for me because it was earlier than I usually have to wake up on Fridays. In the beginning, I was a bit tired; however, my mood changed after we started everything. We went to the security check first and, then we entered the building through a beautiful patio. The architecture was terrific at the CRI, lots of open spaces and places to work with a lot of natural light.

We started the meeting with a small breakfast and some networking between PCA and CRI students, then we went to the auditorium. The main objective of our visit was to create networks between the two schools. Our schools wanted to merge disciplines, sciences with arts, so, by the end of the tour, we had to come up with an interdisciplinary project idea. It was exciting talking about projects with CRI students, and by the end, we had a great idea about sustainable products and changing habits. We ended the meeting with CRI by 13h, with a small and delicious lunch.

After the CRI visit, we went to Google Arts and Culture, so a friend and I took the nearby metro. We ended up getting there really early, so we toured around the area. Galleries Lafayette is a gorgeous domed building, that is always worth seeing. Then around 15h, we went to Google Headquarters in Paris, and we waited for the others. At around 15h10, we were given our ID for the tour, and then, we entered the building.

The first room we got in was the snack room! So, we were really excited to start the tour there, after, we went through a tunnel with lights that ended up in the room where the rest of the visit took place. There was a massive wall of TV’s where our tour guide projected some images. She explained to us how to use Google Arts and Culture page and how they are developing new technologies to help the diffusion of the culture around the globe. We could also see the 360° camera that they use in the museums to have a virtual tour of them. The tour ended at 16h, and by that time, I had to go back to school for my CAP hours.

I really enjoyed the visit because we got to interact with all the technological gadgets that they had in the office and had the opportunity to ask so many questions.

We are about to begin week 6, with enthusiasm, but also a little bit of stress about of all of our big projects! By the end of this week, I’ll probably need some rest. However, everything we’ve done and learned so far is worth it. We’ll talk in two weeks about our social entrepreneurship class projects and how midterms are going so far!

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